Chrome Shelled Hak
by Grimm48
Summary: Layfon wasn't the only extraordinary student arriving from Glendan. Hak went with him after being overlooked for a position of heavens blade because he hasn't learned to use Kei yet. Pairing: Hak x Nina x Naruki
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Chrome Shelled Regios or Akatsuki no Yona.

Summary: Layfon wasn't the only extraordinary student arriving from Glendan. Hak went with him after being overlooked for a position of heavens blade because he hasn't learned to use Kei yet.

Pairing: Hak x Nina x Naruki

* * *

Layfon and Hak are running down the path leading to the student hall where all newcomers are going to be introduced to their new home.

"We're not going to make it." Layfon says worried.

"Shouldn't have fallen asleep on the bus then." Hak tells him, easily matching his speed despite carrying a large, cloth wrapped object at least as tall as himself over his shoulder.

"You fell asleep too, didn't you?" Layfon challenges.

"I'm not worried about coming too late, I'll need to see whoever is in charge here anyways to get put into the military arts." Hak replies calmly as the two slow down to a normal walking pace.

"Why did you leave then? You were on the front lines already and fought alongside the heavens blades." Layfon asks him.

"Yeah, alongside. Not as one of them." Hak says bitterly.

"So why come here if it's happening to you all over again?" Layfon asks.

"Because here it shouldn't matter if I can use Kei or not, I can destroy this whole city if I wanted to with no one to stop me, not even you. You had to leave your precious heavens blade behind after all." Hak tells him confidently.

"Just don't cause too much trouble. People know we arrived together, and I just want to live a peaceful live." Layfon replies.

"I still don't get it. Why stop fighting, you are pretty good. One of the best even. Why waste that talent on what was it? Farming?" Hak asks him.

"Because all it got me was misery and pain." Layfon replies.

"Would you do anything different though?" Hak questions.

"No. I did what had to be done." Layfon answers.

"Hi, I'm from weekly lookin mind If I take your pictures? Oops, I already did. Sorry. You're both not in a uniform, so your new students, aren't you?" A cheerful girl asks them both, already having snapped the photos.

"Yeah, I'm Layfon Alseif and this is Hak. What exactly is Weekly lookin?" Layfon asks.

"You never heard of it? It's the number one magazine in Zuellni city." She tells them.

"You are such a phony. You're a new student here as well." A purple haired girl says arriving behind the brunette together with a black-haired girl.

"Well, that is kind of true, I am a new student here. I guess I should've clarified that I don't actually work for the magazine. But you'll see one of my articles will knock the editors socks off!" The brunette girl says determined.

"She goes a little overboard, but she's got a lot of spirit. That's one of the reasons we're friends." The purple haired girl excuses her friend.

"Speaking of which, let me introduce you to everyone here. I'm Mifi Rotten, this is Naruki Gerni an aspiring police officer and Mayshen here wants to be a baker." The wannabe reporter introduces them.

"The three of us are all from Yoltem city, which cities did you come from?" Naruki asks the two boys.

"We're from Glendan." Hak replies but their focus shifts to a fight starting at the entrance of the building the students are gathering.

"That's Kei energy." Naruki says, feeling the pressure in the air. Hak moves to uncover his weapon but Layfon stops him with a pleading look.

"I smell a scoop." Mifi says going closer to the fight to get some pictures.

"Mifi wait, it's too dangerous." Mayshen tells her and goes after her to stop her while Layfon leaves, hoping to avoid blowing his cover.

"Geeze those guys shouldn't be fighting outside." Naruki says when the two new students fight with Kei enhancements.

"That's it, we should try to stop them." Naruki says when the two boys yell restoration and get out their weapons, a staff and a whip respectively.

Mayshen had to run away when one of the fighters runs in her direction, the fighter however flips over her, landing on a roof of the entrance she ran to and the other fighter doesn't notice her until after he already used his whip to crush the roof's support beam, causing it to collapse.

Naruki ran after Mayshen to help her get to safety before the roof started to collapse and is also caught in the crossfire of the collapsing debris.

'Danger, help her.' Felli says using her telepathic Kei, talking to Layfon since she targeted the one with the most Kei.

As the roof collapses Layfon is kneeling in the middle of it, debris all around him, holding Mayshen in his arms.

"So much for laying low huh Layfon?" Hak says, holding up half of the collapsed roof with one hand, standing over Naruki who's lying on the floor, arms crossed over her face to minimize the damage.

"Speak for yourself." He says sounding disappointed while checking if Mayshen is OK.

"Meh, I have no problem with this." Hak replies.

"How are you doing that?" Naruki asks shocked upon seeing the feat of inhuman strength.

"Never mind that. Can you move aside please I'd like to set it down now." Hak tells her calmly.

"Sorry." She replies and hurries out from under the roof he's holding up.

"Thanks." Hak says tossing the roof half onto the rest of the debris after Layfon cleared out with Mayshen.

"I think that's my line." Naruki tells him, grateful for his heroism.

"Don't sweat it, would be a shame to see such a beautiful girl get hurt." Hak tells her, causing her to blush.

"Uhmpf." Layfon coughs.

"Sorry, we better go." Hak tells her, following Layfon who leads them away form the crowd, but Nina arrived a few moments earlier and feels the enormous amount of Kei still flowing out of his body.

* * *

A while later Hak and Layfon are in the president's office.

"As you are aware Zuelli is solely being operated by the students living within it. My being president of the student council means that I'm in control of this city. Therefore, I have the authority to make decisions in Zuellni's best interest." Karian Loss tells them.

"You both are first year general education students, yet earlier at least you Layfon displayed skills that would make senior military arts students look like an amateur. I take it you know a thing or two about fighting." He says.

"I suppose you could say that." Layfon replies.

"Hmpf." Hak scoffs, being overlooked once again and sits down on the couch in the room, waiting angrily.

"Layfon Alseif a student on the work study program. It says here your job is cleaning the machinery department. That's certainly not the most glamorous job to have around here. Your scholarship is only at a D ranking. What you earn from all your hard work will barely cover your tuition and it will be rather physically demanding." Karian tells him.

"I'm aware of that, don't worry I'm strong enough." Layfon replies.

"I think that strength would be better put to use in the military arts. I've bumped your scholarship to an A ranking, and I've waved your tuition. That should make the transfer a little easier." Karian says.

"Transfer? Now hold on a minute. I don't want to be in military arts. Take Hak." Layfon protests.

"Over the past two years, we've lost two Selenium mines in the municipal challenges and now there is only one mine left powering the whole city. If we lose that mine Zuellni is dead, which is why we need your strength to fortify our military Layfon." The president continues.

"If you want strength, then enroll Hak. He's stronger than me." Layfon suggests hopeful, but he gets shot down.

"Sorry, but a fighter without Kei is of no use to the city." Karian tells him. Layfon looks over to Hak with worry as he grips his still covered weapon with all his might and gets up to leave, making Layfon look at his retreating form with empathy and a bit of relief that he didn't lose his cool and leveled the city after getting rejected again.

"Look it's nice that you think so highly of me but all I want to pursue in Zuellni is general studies." Layfon tells him.

"I'm sorry, the welfare of the city has to come first so this is not an option, meaning as of right now you are in military arts." Karian says decisively and a group of girls come in, stripping him down and putting him in an military arts uniform.

While this is happening in the president's office Nina is on her way to him to request, he gets Layfon to join her platoon. On the way to the office she passes Hak and glances at him, having seen him near the boy she wants to recruit and freezes in her spot at seeing the enraged expression on the taller teen's face as he passes her, he doesn't even have direct eye contact with her and she is standing in the hallway frozen with fear until he rounds a corner.

"What was that?" She asks herself, catching her breath and looks to the corner he left but decides it was just her imagination, afterall why would someone so strong come to a student city.

"Excuse me Mr. President, I came to ask you…" Nina says but stops upon seeing the cowering form of Layfon lying on the floor.

"Of well if it isn't the captain of the seventeenth platoon, I'm busy can this wait? Mrs. Uhmm." Karian asks her.

"Nina Antalk sir. And I'd like to request that I'd be allowed to take him for my platoon." Nina requests.

Karian agrees to this and Nina leaves with Layfon in tow and shows him to the men's dorms.

* * *

Meanwhile Hak after leaving the administrations building wandered around the city, looking for some way to blow off some steam but is disappointed in his quest for relief. Instead he ends up at the girls' dorms and remembers the purple haired beauty he rescued earlier and her aim to become a police officer so he decides to look for her. He enters the building, ignoring the looks the various girls are giving him and looks around the lobby hoping to find a plan with who has which room but is disappointed when he finds none. After not finding any information on who has which room he goes around asking if anyone knows where the three girls are living and to his luck the 6th girl he asks lives across from them and tells him where to find the room.

"Coming." He hears Mayshen's voice as she walks over to the door, while Mifi can be heard giving another speech.

"Yes?" Mayshen asks opening the door slightly, looking at him through the gap.

"It's Hak. From this morning." He says.

"Oh, yes. Come in please." She says, opening the door fully and he steps inside, still carrying his wrapped-up weapon.

"Nice room you have. I actually haven't seen mine yet." He says glancing around the spacious room, his eyes lingering on Naruki, who is sitting on her bed dressed in only a towel from what he can tell.

"Thank you, uhm if you don't mind me asking why are you here? It's rather late." Mayshen asks shyly.

"Sorry, I can come back tomorrow if that's better." He apologizes and turns around to leave.

"Mayshen, don't send him away, let's hear why he's here first." Mifi berates the black-haired girl.

"Uhm, thanks. I actually came to ask you something Naruki." Hak says, turning to the purple haired girl, who adjusts her towel before walking over to him with a smirk, noticing him checking her out before he focuses back on her face.

"You want to become a police officer right?" Hak asks, getting a nod positive in return from the girl.

"Do you know how I could apply for that?" He asks.

"You want to become a police officer? I mean that's great, but I thought you were planning on joining the military arts." Naruki asks him surprised.

"Yeah well, they rejected me so I'm hoping the police force doesn't have much in terms of requirements." He tells her.

"You can come with me to the police force's orientation if you want. As for requirements, I think the only one is being able to use one's Kei, even slightly. But after your feat earlier I'm guessing that's not a problem." She tells him.

"Great." He sighs disappointed.

"Huh? What's the matter?" Naruki asks.

"I can't use Kei. I never learned how. At first I didn't need to and when I realized that it's a requirement for a lot of things it was already too late and no one wanted to teach me or was able to dumb it down for me." He explains.

"Ohh, I'm sorry." Naruki tells him, giving him a empathic look.

Wait, does that mean you were using only your physical strength earlier today?" Mifi asks shocked.

"Yeah." He says, his mind already busy contemplating what to do next.

"Anyways, thanks and good luck with the orientation tomorrow." He thanks them, waving a quick goodbye as he leaves their room.

"That's really sad for him, isn't it?" Naruki says, going back over to her bed.

"Yes. Maybe you should ask him out, on a date I mean, to get his mind off things." Mifi tells her knowingly.

"Hmpf. Why am I the only one getting teased? Mayshen is all giddy looking forward to the next time she meets Layfon." Naruki tells her.

"That's true, maybe you can double date. Hak and Layfon already know each other after all." Mifi replies, grinning at them challengingly.

"Maybe we will!" Naruki replies confidently.

"We will?" Mayshen asks worried.

"Let's just go to bed." Naruki suggests and goes under her covers, trying to hide the blush at imagining herself going out with Hak.

* * *

After Hak left their room he heads to the male dorm, asking a student for the way and quickly finds his room, which is right next to Layfon's.

"So what did Mr. Dick of a President do?" He asks barging into Layfon's room.

"He made me a military arts student. And I am already in a squad. I just can't get a break." Layfon tells him with a deep sigh.

"Yeah well it looks like I'm jobless." Hak tells him.

"Why?" Layfon questions.

"Did you really think I was going to attend regular working classes?" Hak asks.

"No, but maybe police officer?" Layfon suggests.

"I already looked into it, I need my Kei for that as well. Stupid society, useless system." He curses.

"Hey, why don't we try to teach you how to use Kei again? I know we failed in Glendan but maybe that was because all of us heavenly blades never had to think about how to use our Kei, we just did it. I could ask my new squad captain to help you as a favor." Layfon offers.

"Argh, why the fuck not. Not like I could get any worse than 0 Kei." Hak agrees grumbling.

"0 Kei? I think you`ve got it mixed up. I felt you activate your Kei once for a mere second and your amount of Kei is massive, it's even more than two of the heavenly blades' Kei together. Which is why it's probably so hard for you to get a grasp on it. It's so far spread in your body you can't tell what is Kei and what is not, being so freakishly strong doesn't make it any easier for you either." Layfon explains.

"Well I'll be damned, that's the first good news I heard in over half a year." Hak says, looking genuinely surprised.


	2. Chapter 2

|The next day|

"He's late. I'll kill him if I find out he ran away!" Nina says annoyed while she and the rest of her squad are waiting for Layfon to arrive.

"You dragged him into this against his will so I can't say that I blame the guy." Sharnid, the team's sniper says.

"What was that?" Nina questions threateningly.

"I meant where could he be?" Sharnid replies quickly.

"Hey sorry I'm a little late." Layfon excuses himself, stepping into his new squad's hall.

"Guys, allow me to introduce you to Layfon Alseif the newest member of the seventeenth platoon." Nina tells her teammates, welcoming Layfon inside and then introduces her squadmates, Sharnid as the shooter, Felli the nani operator and Harley the daite mechanic.

"Actually the thing is…" Layfon says trying to stop her but gets ignored as she continues introducing everyone.

"Huh? I gave you a membership badge. Why aren't you wearing it?" Nina says seeing that he is missing the pin.

"It's because I can't become a member. I've got a nightjob cleaning the machinery department, but I have the perfect candidate for you waiting outside, he only needs some help with his Kei and he'll be ready to go." Layfon tells them.

"Oh, you can handle both trust me and I've got my eye set on you so your friend will have to deal with it." Nina tells him.

"Restoration." Nina says, activation her twin baton weapons.

"Don't worry, I just want to give you a little test, you'll be in our next competition afterall." Nina tells him while Harley brings a box over to Layfon with some daite's inside.

"Here you go, take a practice daite." Harley tells him.

"OK I guess. Restoration, but wait before we start. Please if you won't let him join the squad at least help him with his Kei training, I will be very grateful to you." Layfon tells Nina, activating the daite he took.

"OK, fair enough but I can only give him some instructions. I don't have much free time." Nina tells him.

"Thank you." Layfon thanks her.

"Get ready for this." Nina says already having closed the distance between them and swings her baton at him with Layfon blocking it.

Nina then continues to trade some blows with him being on the defense before she decides to step the test up a bit.

"Can you use external ballistic Kei?" Nina asks, taking a stance.

"Of course." Layfon replies.

"Then use it!" Nina shouts, powering up an attack and assaulting him with her external Kei, causing Layfon who doesn't want to show his strength to fly back, hitting the wall behind him and fall unconscious after blocking the move for only half a second.

"Hmm? Layfon's out, how weak does he want to appear for gods sake?" Hak asks himself, having felt Layfon's presence weaken considerably.

"I'll get him to the hospital, wait where is that?" Hak tells them, entering their hall and slinging Layfon over one shoulder with his wrapped halberd resting on the other shoulder.

"We'll show you. Who are you by the way?" Harley asks the considerably taller and buffer teen.

"Hak. I thought he told you about me?" Hak replies, nodding at the boy lying over his shoulder.

"Oh, you're the one who wants help with his Kei." Sharnid says, joining them on the way to the hospital, always looking for an excuse to ditch training.

"Yes." Hak replies somewhat embarrassed.

"There is no need to be embarrassed. And I've already promised Layfon that I will give you some instructions, I'm very busy however so I won't have much time to actively train you." Nina tells him as the group start to head for the hospital, being led by Harley.

"That's OK I guess, I'm desperate as it is." Hak tells her with conviction in his voice.

* * *

The seventeenth platoon and Hak deliver Layfon to the hospital, where he gets treated.

"Hey, what did the doctor say?" Harley asks Nina, having waited for her.

"With some rest Layfon should be able to rejoin us soon." Nina informs him.

"That's good." Harley says relieved.

"No, it's not. Was it just some fluke that he managed to block my first attack? When I saw that I was like wow, what a great addition to the platoon. But why didn't he try to move when I launched that Kei blast?" Nina questions the technician.

"It was his first day, he'll get better." Harley tells her supportively and the two of them leave the hospital.

In the meantime Felli calls Layfon's bluff at being hurt and leaves with him and Hak running after her. When he catches up to Felli she tells them about her brother and her despise of him at using whatever means he can to win, no matter the cost.

"Yeah well I don't like him either, looking down on me for not using Kei." Hak grumbles after Felli explained her brothers behavior and the lengths he'll go to.

"Hak, calm down buddy. Remember we're both working students here. We don't need to add repair damage to our bill alright?" Layfon reminds his companion.

"Too bad. Now I really miss my hook." Hak replies with a frown.

"Hook?" Felli asks.

"Oh, it's just something he used back in Glendan. Excuse us senior, we need to get to work now." Layfon excuses them, shoving Hak towards their housing to get some food for their break and he finds a basket with sandwiches hanging from his doorknob.

"Phe… One day in the city and already a fangirl, that's so cliché for you. I could puke." Hak grumbles, going past his friend, bumping into him hard, causing Layfon to fly to the ground.

"Hey, what are you talking about?" Layfon asks him.

"Seriously? Did you get dumber since we came here?" Hak questions.

"Shut up, come on let's hurry to work." Layfon tells him.

"This is the heart of the city." Layfon says looking over the railing of the elevator bringing them to their workstation.

* * *

When the two of them arrive at their post they see someone already on a platform cleaning the walls and Layfon yells to them "Excuse me, we're starting work here tonight and don't know where to check in."

"Give me a sec I'll be right up." The person replies, turning on the lift to raise the platform to their level.

"It's been tough since our other guy quit, so I'm glad to get some help." Nina tells them as the platform reaches them.

"Nina?" Layfon says surprised.

"Layfon what the hell are you doing out of the hospital?" Nina asks him shocked.

"I got better so they released me." He replies.

Nina then lets Lafon on the platform and lowers them down, while Hak uses the one beside it so they can start scrubbing the walls.

"At least now I know why you said I could keep my job while being on the squad." Layfon says while the three of them are working with Nina and Layfon scrubbing with the broom, holding it two handed while Hak is using one hand to work.

"Say, if we get done faster does that mean we can out of here faster?" Hak asks the girl who is about one head shorter than him.

"Yeah, why?" Nina asks him, looking at his one handed working with wonder.

"Good, how about this. When we're done here you'll give me some one on one advise on Kei use until the shift would normally end?" Hak suggests, giving her a smirk.

"Sure, if you can manage to speed things up…" Nina agrees.

"Alright." Hak says excited and picks up another broom, using both hands to scrub with one broom respectively and gradually speeds up.

"Hey wait a second, you still have to do it properly and not just rush over it." Nina berates him.

"I wouldn't worry about that." Layfon tells her, pointing at the part of the wall Hak has finished, which looks like it's brand new.

"Nevermind then, continue." She tells him impressed.

"Is this usual for him?" Nina asks Layfon.

"You should´ve seen him when he was helping out the stock department back in Glendal, all of the workers had their work time cut in half." Layfon tells her.

"Seriously? Why would he do so much extra work?" Nina asks Layfon stunned.

"He wanted to get his job done earlier so he could get back to training I guess." Layfon replies, never having given it much thought.

"Anyway, if you don't mind me asking, why are you working down here?" Layfon asks his new captain.

"That's kind of a long story." Nina tells him and suggests the three of them take a break.

"My parents were totally against me joining the military arts so I ran away and they don't pay at all for tuition. What about you?" Nina tells them, sitting against a wall.

"Zuellni was the only school which offered a scholarship and I thought it was better than nothing. Especially for an orphan without money." Layfon explains.

"I am in the same position and just went along hoping I could change into military arts but they won't let me join without Kei, which is why I need you to teach me so desperately." Hak tells her.

"I see, so you two were in the same orphanage?" She asks them.

"Not really." Layfon replies.

"So how do you know eachother?" Nina questions.

"Well, it's like this he was born on Glendan but I was picked up by the city when I was eight. Before that I lived with a tribe which had a camp high atop a mountain, so high the pollution was not lethal, but we were constantly under contaminoid attack and with the declining population the city just fell. During the last stand I fell off the mountain and luckily a Glendan scout found me before I died, but after that I had to do hard labor to survive which is where Layfon and I crossed paths." Hak tells her, half lying about the meeting Layfon at work part.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up." Nina apologizes.

"Don't worry." Hak tells her with a small grin.

"Here, you guys want some? You haven't had the cafeteria's food yet right?" Nina asks them, offering both some sandwiches.

Both boys try a sandwich and are surprised by the deliscious taste.

"Right, you know this was delivered to my room today, want some?" Layfon asks Nina, showing her the basket of food he had hanging on his doorknob.

"Is sure looks good." Nina says.

"Help yourself, I just hope it tastes half as good as your food." Layfon tells her, munching on the sandwich she offered him.

"Yum, this is really good." Nina says trying the food.

"Really? Want to swap?" Layfon suggests.

"Yeah." Nina agrees happily.

"Layfon, once again you are stupid." Hak tells him, eating a food bar he got from his room.

"What? Why?" Layfon asks offended.

"You got this from your secret admirer, I don't think she'd be too happy you traded her food off." Hak tells him.

"What? Secret admirer?" Layfon asks shocked.

"Ugh, I can't deal with him anymore. I'm getting back to work, afterall the sooner we finish the more time is left for me to get a grasp on Kei." Hak tells them, stretching his back and picking up his two brooms.

"Thanks for the Sandwich Nina." He tells her, jumping over the railing onto his platform and sends it down to continue scrubbing the walls.

"So, secret admirer huh?" Nina says looking at Layfon mirthful.

"I don't know anything about that, seriously." He replies.

"Well I think Hak got it right, we have a tournament tomorrow afterall so we better finish fast to get some sleep." Nina tells him.

"What!? Tomorrow? And you let us talk all this time?" Layfon shouts shocked.

"Don't put this all on me. You two told me your stories afterall." Nina tells him.

"Alright, come on. Even with Hak working for four it'll take a while to get this done." Layfon says hopping back on their platform.

* * *

Two hours later they are done with their tasked job.

"Phew, that went better than expected thanks to your weird enthusiasm you stupid thunder beast." Layfon says, looking at Hak.

"thunder beast?" Nina questions, looking between the two.

"It's a nickname I had in Glendan, just forget it." Hak tells her.

"if you say so. Anyways, As promised we should probably start to work on your understanding of Kei." Nina tells Hak.

"Forget all that, I have the knowledge, what I need is someone who can teach me how to feel my own Kei. I can somewhat tell if Kei is used against me but as for my own I have no fucking idea how to access it." Hak tells her.

"I see. Well for tonight let's start with a simple Kei focus training I learned when I was younger. It uses External Kei, which is just as hard to use as Internal Kei but it's preferred for beginners because the effect is visible. Come on." Nina tells him and leads them back to the surface where they use the train to reach the shore-line near the girls' dorm and get out.

"I want you to take a meditative position at the water's edge and use your Kei to push the water away from your body. Imagine yourself building a wall with an extra pair of hands." Nina instructs him.

"Can you be a little more specific what I should feel?" Hak asks her, stripping down to his underwear and following her instructions.

"Uhm, when I was first trying to bring out my Kei I concentrated on my breathing. I breathe in empty air and when I breathe out, I fill it with my energy. Once you feel you have achieved this try to use the energy as I told you before." Nina instructs, looking him over once and admiring his muscle packed frame.

"Anyways, you keep working on this for a while and Layfon and I will get some sleep before the competition tomorrow." Nina tells him and leaves with Layfon in tow.

* * *

|The next day|

Nina wakes up with a yawn and stretches herself as she gets out of bed. She takes a quick shower and eats a small breakfast before she puts on her fighting suit under her uniform's jacket.

After getting ready she heads out, using the train to reach her platoon's hall but on the way she sees Hak sitting in the same spot as yesterday. 'He's at it bright and early I can admire that tenacity.' Nina thinks before focusing on the upcoming battle.

When she arrives at her platoon hall she waits for the rest of her members before telling them the strategy, which is Felli staying behind to locate their enemies while Sharnid hides himself to give her and Layfon who will be fighting on the frontline some long range assistance.

When the battle starts everything works as planned other that Layfon, not trying at all is in a deadlock with an enemy while Nina has to face two enemies at once, three even after their commander joins the fray. When Nina is close to getting defeated Felli transmits her thoughts to Layfon, who hears Nina's desperation to win and reveals his strength afterall. By doing this he wins the match for his platoon but also fries his daite, disappoints Felli who asked him to hide his strength since they both don't want to get used by her brother and both shocks and hurts Nina with his monstrous strength which he kept hidden.

* * *

After her win, due to Layfon Nina leaves quickly after a shower, just wanting to head home to get dressed for work and get today over with.

On her way home she sees Hak again sitting in the same spot and decides to check in with him since she has a few hours free before they both have to work.

"Hey Hak, how is it going?" Nina asks him, walking up behind him and sees deep trenches around his spot which have filled with water.

"I don't know, I've been here all day and night and I still can't feel anything." Hak tells her, looking at her quizzical.

"Wait, you didn't go home?" Nina asks.

"No." Hak replies.

"Well it seems like it paid off, look around you." Nina tells him and Hak gets up and sees the trenches around his spot.

"Is that a good sign?" He asks her.

"I'd say that is a good start at least. It proves that you can use external Kei." She tells him, patting his shoulder.

"Oh, right how did your tournament go?" Hak asks her while he's putting on his work uniform.

"We won." Nina tells him emotionlessly.

"I take it Layfon has something to do with this mood?" Hak asks her.

"You can say that again." Nina confirms his suspicion.

"What did he do?" Hak asks, not wanting to blow his friends cover in case he didn't reveal his strength.

"He lied to us. He played weak until the very last moment, where he defeated the whole enemy team in a flash and captured the flag in one move." Nina replies.

"I see…" Hak says.

"That's all? I see?" Nina shouts annoyed.

"What do you expect me to say? I know he's strong, but he asked me to keep it a secret because he wants out of the military arts." Hak tells her.

"I can respect that I guess. See you later and get something to eat." She tells him, heading to the girls' dorm by foot while Hak takes the train.

Unknown to them Hak had a silent observer for parts of the night and the morning in form of a curious purple-haired girl looking out of her window right at Hak when he was training his Kei, admiring his strong body as well as the occasional display of Kei he caused every quarter hour or so.


	3. Chapter 3

|later that day|

"So I heard you won, decided to reveal your strength after all huh?" Hak tells Layfon as they make their way to the Engine room.

"Yeah, wait heard? You didn't come watch?" Layfon asks upset.

"Now why should I have come to watch huh? Sure, seeing your captain in action would've been nice but other than that it must've been a drag. This is only a student Regios after all." Hak replies.

"I guess." Layfon agrees, getting where he's coming from.

"Layfon, Hak!" Nina shouts towards the two, greeting them as they come up on their assigned station.

"Hey." Hak replies, grabbing two brooms and a bucket, getting on his own platform again.

"Nina." Layfon greets her unsure of her opinion on him, recalling her leaving the arena in a hurry.

"Come in, we don't have all night." She tells him as he climbs onto the platform before she lowers them down.

After a couple of minutes of working in awkard silence Nina finally breaks the ice "Layfon, I assume you failed on your entry test on purpose, you have all this power why chose to hide it?" She asks.

"As you know Hak and I grew up in Glendan, the city is constantly moving, gravitating towards contaminoids. We grew up in a world of violence, you see for military artists like me it was normal to fight contaminoids on a regular basis. And you know what? I never worried in battle, victory just was the only option otherwise I'd be dead. And I used to love fighting. There was a time when the military arts meant everything to me, but I'd like to try searching for a different path now." Layfon explains.

"But why?" Nina questions.

"that life just isn't for me anymore after all why continue on when you've already failed." Layfon answers when suddenly the engine comes to an abrupt halt and Nina takes off with Layfon and Hak following her but only finding her unconscious on a staircase with the electronic spirit of a little girl hovering over her concerned. The two boys take her to the hospital, where she gets treated for her exhaustion and lies unconscious in a hospital bed for a while.

Layfon takes off after the doctors tell him, Hak and Harley that Nina will be OK.

"Any change?" Harley asks Hak, coming back into Nina's room after thanking Layfon for calling him.

"Nope." Hak replies, holding his weapon stretched out with one arm to train while passing time.

"Hey, you're the team's mechanic, right?" Hak asks him after a moment of contemplating.

"I guess you can call me that yeah." Harley says.

"I have a request for you then. If you are up for a challenge that is." Hak tells the boy.

"What is it?" Harley asks suspicious of Hak.

"Well, Nina said that I can use external Kai physically at least, so it will probably only be a matter of time before I learn how to use it and when that time comes I want to be prepared and already have a daite." Hak tells him.

"And you want me to make it?" Harley asks.

"Yes. It's best to keep it quiet for now and I don't think anyone else would even consider doing it, seeing as I have jet to learn how to use Kei." Hak explains.

"Hmm, let's say I agree, why would it be a challenge?" Harley questions.

"Well for one, good luck finding out what my Kei signature is. Secondly I need it to be sturdier and stronger than anything that's ever been made." He tells him, putting down his Glaive with a loud thunk, implying the weapons weight.

"Well in that case it won't come cheap. You see, I only get limited funding and only for the team I'm assigned to." Harley tells him.

"Don't worry. Money is not a problem and if it is, I'll get Layfon to convince the headmaster to foot the bill." Hak tells him.

"And how would you hope to do that?" Harley questions doubtfully.

"A mock battle between me and Layfon should be enough to change his opinion on me." Hak replies.

"Well whatever you say, I'll talk to Nina about it when she's better and tell you my decision then. She is my captain and can best tell how much time I have available for a side project." Harley replies.

"Alright." Hak agrees and holds his weapon stretched out with his other arm.

Maybe 10 minutes later Nina wakes up.

"Ugh. What happened?" Nina asks with a groan.

"We don't know you just laid on the floor passed out, I assume it's from exhaustion." Hak tells her.

"Hak? Why are you here?" Nina asks blinking her eyes, not seeing very well yet.

"I may not be part of your squad but that doesn't mean I don't care about you." He says with a little scoff.

"Right… Ah I get it, you are waiting for your next instruction." Nina says.

"Try holding a leaf to your forehead and stick it to your skin with Kei, when you think you got it, just let go and try to hold it there without your hands. Now get out, I need to talk to Harley about something." Nina instructs.

"Hmpf. I think I liked you better unconscious." Hak says, annoyed by her attitude but leaves to do as she said anyways.

"Wasn't that a bit rude?" Harley asks.

"Why, why else should he come by to see me?" Nina asks genuinely confused.

"He didn't come by, he stayed with you the entire time." Harley explains.

"Ohhh, why?" Nina asks.

"I don't know. Ask him!" Harley replies, facepalming himself.

* * *

After leaving Nina's hospital room Hak leaves the hospital intending to head to the beach he previously trained but shortly after stepping out of the building a rope comes flying at him, intended to capture him, Hak grabs the rope, which turns out to be a whip as he pulls on it hard, making Naruki come flying at him due to his immense strength.

"Couldn't stay away huh?" Hak asks teasingly as he catches the girl in a tight bearhug.

"Can you let me down please?" She requests with a pout.

"So, what's up with you trying to tie me up?" He asks her, ignoring her request and continuing to hold onto the girl.

"It was Mifi's idea." She says.

"Aha." Hak accepts this and releases her from his hold, wrapping up the whip before handing it back to her.

"So, what's the big idea with tying me up?" Hak asks the brunette peeking out of a bush.

"Well I am trying to do this article and we need some information on Layfon…" Mifi tells him.

"Go ask him then." Hak tells her rudely, annoyed since everyone only seems to care about the former heavens blade.

"We did but after we captured Felli he took off with her." Mifi says disappointed.

"Not my problem." Hak tells her with a shrug.

"Please, just tell me , uh us… if Layfon has a special someone." Mayshen pleads.

"special someone huh? Yeah I guess you could call her that, but from what I've gathered you're safe on that front since they only think of each other as siblings." Hak tells the dark-haired girl genuinely.

"There, I answered your question alright." Hak tells them and walk away, annoyed at how he's been treated.

"Hak, wait up." Naruki shouts, catching up to him, while her two friends watch this with mirth, well in Mifi's case anyways.

"What is it?" Hak asks with a sigh.

"I just wanted to make sure you are alright, I looked out yesterday and saw you sitting there and it looked like thunder struck down on you…" Naruki says.

"thunder? That would be news to me and I am quite alright other than the already existing problem." Hak informs her, giving her a little smile.

"Good, and good luck with your training." Naruki tells him before rushing back over to her friends.

* * *

Hak gets back to the beach near the girls' dorm and breaks a few branches off one of the nearby trees, taking them with him on the sand.

"Let's give this a shot." Hak says, sitting down cross-legged and concentrates on the point on his forehead he's holding a leaf to.

After around 4 minutes the leaf suddenly just goes up in smoke.

"does it stick?" Hak asks, looking at a puddle he made next to him, using it as a mirror.

"huh, where did it go?" Hak asks confused and looks at his hand, seeing a bit of the charred leaf remaining.

"I think I lit it on fire?" Hak guesses unsure.

"Let's try this again." He says, now holding the entire branch to his forehead and again about 4-5 minutes later he succeeds in using Kei but is now holding a flaming stick in his hands.

"Great. Let's see what happens if I use a rock." Hak says, picking up a small rock, around the size of half his fist and repeats the exercise.

After a couple of minutes, a crack can be heard and Hak looks at the rock, seeing it literally split in half, chucking it away.

"Let's try this again." Hak says, repeating the process multiple times, lasting around 2 hours in total during this time he increased the rock's mass, until finding one which sticks to his forehead for a bit before it falls off.

"Hey Hak, sorry for earlier. As an apology I got you, this." Nina tells him, giving him a sandwich.

"Thanks. Good to see you're out already." Hak says accepting the Sandwich.

"As if I'd stay down for long." Nina says proudly.

"Say, was this beach this rocky yesterday?" Nina questions, seeing multiple stones lying around.

"Uhh…." Hak says guiltily.

"What did you do?" Nina asks with a sigh.

"Well, leaves went up in flames so I used rocks instead, at first they blew up too but with this size I can do it." Hak tells her, easily picking up a rock around three times the size of his head.

"What are you doing?" Nina asks concerned until she sees Hak take away his hands, holding up the stone with his Kei while looking like he's about to blow a vein in his head.

"I'm using my Kei, right?" Hak asks questioningly.

"Yeah, but how are you … Oh forget it." Nina says exhausted and annoyed by the two former Glendan residents.

"Hey Nina, want to share?" Hak asks the girl, patting the sand beside him and offers her half the sandwich she got for him.

"Sure." She agrees, sitting down next to him.

"So what happened?" Hak asks her, looking at her with worry.

"Nothing, I just spazzed out when Zuelni was in trouble, I don't remember myself exactly." Nina says.

"Well, anyways good to see you bounced back alright." Hak tells her.

A few hours before this Layfon made up with Felli after rescuing her from the city's newest reporter.


	4. Chapter 4

|one and a half week later|

The seventeenth platoon is training in their base, fighting against machines, which test their reflexes and dodging capabilities with Hak sitting at the fields entrance, doing some Kei control training.

"Look out, Layfon!" Nina yells as Layfon is standing on the field, lost in thought and doesn't even notice the machine right behind him. Layfon snaps back to reality, jumps away from the machine and dodges it's attack before slicing through it with his sword.

"What's going on, we're practicing. You're going to need to get your head in the game." Nina berates him.

"Sorry." Layfon replies as if on reflex.

"Man, did you have to alert him Nina, I would've loved to see the great Layfon Alseif get his ass handed to him by a metal contraption." Hak says laughing.

"That day will never come." Layfon tells him as he moves past him to get to their squad room.

"What's up with him?" Nina asks Hak, the two of them being the only ones left on the field because the others finished their training already.

"He's still not made up his mind about fighting again." Hak answers as the two head to the squad room as well.

"Tomorrow the third and eleventh platoon will be having a competition, which means we'll have the day off. You can come with me and watch the competition or get some rest, I'll leave that decision up to you." Nina tells them.

"You don't have to tell me twice, see ya." Sharnid tells her leaving with Felli following close behind him.

"Hey, what are you going to do? Watching the other platoon's compete might be a good learning experience." Harley asks Layfon.

"The thing is, I've already made some plans actually." Layfon replies.

"Looks like it's just you and me Nina, guess I'll see you there." Harley tells her, leaving the room.

"Layfon, wait up." Nina tells him as Layfon gets up to leave as well.

"I don't know what you did to fail in the military arts in the past and I don't care, but in order for the seventeenth platoon to get stronger and keep winning we'll need your strength." Nina tells him as she leaves the room.

"Seriously dude, what was up with that on the field today? Even back in Glendan you never were that off." Hak asks Layfon.

"I just have a lot on my mind." Layfon tells him dismissively.

"Have it your way, so when do we meet again tomorrow?" Hak asks him.

"At 10." Layfon replies.

"Alright, see you then." Hak says leaving as well.

* * *

|the next day|

Layfon and Hak meet up with Mayshen, Mifi and Naruki.

"Oh, so you two have to leave?" Layfon asks, looking at Mifi and Naruki.

"Yeah, sorry. Mifi has to do a report for the lookin and I volunteered to help out with security at the tournament. Also Hak I was hoping you'd come as well to give me a hand." Naruki explains.

"Alright." Hak agrees with a shrug and follows the two girls, giving Layfon and Mayshen a wave.

"So what's really up?" Hak asks the two once there are out of sight form Layfon and Mayshen.

"Mayshen wanted to have a date but she was to shy to outright ask him." Mifi replies.

"Sorry if we're keeping you from something." Naruki tells him.

"Oh no, I got nothing going on. So what are we going to do?" He asks the two girls.

"Uhmmm, we were just going to head to our room and watch the tournament on TV." Mifi tells him.

"Sounds good, everything else is already closed up already anyways." Hak tells them.

The two girls and Hak then head to their room, exchanging some small talk on the way.

"Come on in." Naruki tells him as she opens the door for them.

"Thanks." He tells her, putting down his glaive at the entrance.

"Soo, how's your training going? Do I need to interview you for the next up and running newcomer?" Mifi asks him, a glee in her eyes.

"That's still a ways in the future. While I guess I could look for a squad I'd rather spend my time training myself since the platoons are full already anyways, so I'll just look for a spot to clear up and try my luck then." Hak explains.

"Right, I forgot that you can only have four members on the field. You'd be a benchwarmer, otherwise right?" Mifi says.

"pretty much yeah." Hak tells her.

"Well one upside is you can hang out with us since you've got enough free time right?" Naruki tells him.

"Yeah, that's true. Anyways, how's your job with the police coming along?" He asks her.

"I've done all the tests and I should be accepted sometime soon, but we'll see." Naruki tells him, slightly insecure with how long it's taking.

"You'll get the job. Don't worry." Hak says, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Let's watch this competition." Mifi tells them, turning on the TV and hops onto her bed while Naruki goes over to hers as well before telling Hak "Come join me, it's more comfortable than sitting on the floor."

"Sure." He agrees and sits down next to the purple-haired girl.

"I have to say though your room is quite comfortable." He tells them while the TV is running.

"Really? What are the rooms like in the boys dorm?" Mifi asks.

"Not sure about the upper classes but my room is just a bed and a dresser with no windows." Hak informs her.

"Yeah, we've got it nicer than." Mifi agrees.

"See, I told you applying for a three-person room was a great idea." Mifi tells Naruki proudly.

"You say that now, but what if Mayshen and Layfon get together and need space to themselves? We can't exactly spend our nights outside all the time." Naruki says.

"We'll worry about that when the time comes." Mifi tells her.

"So Mayshen's crush on Layfon is pretty serious I'm guessing?" Hak inquires.

"You could say that, she can barely keep a straight face when thinking of a way to meet him.

"Too bad it's Layfon, I'd be ecstatic at having a girl all over me." Hak tells them with a sigh.

"So, you don't have a special someone?" Naruki asks interested.

"Nah, it's just me and my glaive." Hak replies.

"Well you're in luck because Naruki…" Mifi starts to say before Naruki jumps at her, covering her mouth.

"What just happened?" Hak asks confused by the display.

"Let's just watch the game, who do you think will win?" Naruki asks changing the topic.

"Hmm, my guess is…" Hak says when suddenly the room along with the whole city start shaking.

"Oh man, that can't be good." Hak says, helping up the two girls who fell off their bed.

"This is not a drill, we are under attack of contaminoids all none military personell proceed to the shelters." An announcement starts saying over and over.

"OK, let's go." Hak says, grabbing his weapon and when they are outside of the girls' dorm he throws mifi over his shoulder, keeping her steady with his hand while still holding his glaive and takes Naruki's hand in his as they run towards the nearest shelter. Once they get there he lets Mifi down and releases his hold on the purple-haired girls hand.

"Take Mifi and get into the shelter." Hak tells Naruki.

"Naruki, you are to get the civilians into the shelter." The chief of police tells her while doing the same.

"Roger." Naruki replies with a salute.

"Take care." Hak tells the tow girls as he walks off, heading towards the student bodies offices, assuming a briefing is taking place there.

"Hey, you. Get in the shelter!" A police officer yells at Hak, seeing him walk away in his non- military arts uniform.

Hak takes off in a sprint, fleeing from the police officer and only loosing him after a couple of minutes, before the officer heads back to continue helping in getting the other civilians safe.

"Great and now I'm lost." Hak says, looking around the forest area he is standing in.

"Ah fuck, I'll just go this way." Hak says and jogs into a random direction.

* * *

In the meantime, Layfon brought Mayshen to a shelter before he goes looking for Nina and his squad. After finding them at the councils' offices he tries to convince them to flee the city together with the others, but she is firm in her decision to stay and fight to protect the city. After this Layfon goes wandering the street, not accepting that his comrades won't flee.

"Jo Layfon, finally someone, where the fuck is the invasion?" Hak asks Layfon, having run around all over the city but having found not a single person.

"That way." Layfon tells him, pointing at where he feels the contaminoids.

"Thanks, you coming or will you sit this one out? I mean I can handle it but what will your friends think and how will they feel, they know your strength after all?" Hak tells him.

"I haven't made up my mind yet." Layfon tells him, struggling with his consciousness.

"Well hurry up and decide, otherwise I'll have finished up already before you even show up." Hak tells him amused, excited at finally being able to fight again.

Hak takes off in a sprint, headed for the direction Layfon pointed him to while Layfon takes a couple of minutes to make up his mind and decide to fight to protect all the people close to him.

He contacts Felli telepathically, asking her to locate the mother, so he can take her out while he races across town, headed for Harley to ask him to tweak his daite.

"Harley, can you install these two new features for me?" Layfon requests, handing him a description.

"Sure, but can you handle two?" Harley questions.

"Just do it please, and have you finished Hak's project?" Layfon tells him.

"Uhm, a test version, yeah." Harley says.

"Give me that as well, I'll take it to him." Layfon says.

* * *

In the meantime on the side of the city the contaminoids are attacking Nina has taken a lead position in organizing the troops and instructed the firing squad she has to continue attacking the larva with wings, flying right at them While she and the rest of the infantry take on the normal larva.

They manage to slow the contaminoids down a bit but stand no chance against them in general. The city's already lost over 3 dozen men and that's only on her front, in the mess there is no telling how the other two fronts are doing, even though they are right beside them.

"There is way to many of them." One student says scared shitless.

"fall back, fall back!" Another student shouts and Nina's troops take off, leaving her alone on the frontline with only Sharnid as a sniper remaining.

"Don't run away, stay at your post. If we don't stop them we're finished." Nina shouts at them. A contaminoid comes up on her and she swings at it, destroying one of its eyes with her baton but another contaminoid rushes her from her side, knocking her way and injuring one of her arms in the process, making her go down in a painful yelp.

The contaminoid is head on her heels and is on her barely a second later with her lying on the floor defenseless and Sharnid unable to help her, because he can't get a clear shot with her in the way.

The contaminoid opens its maw to devour her and Nina can only say "I'm going to die." Breathlessly as she stares down the terrifying maw of the creature in front of her.

"Not if I can help it." Hak shouts, kicking away the contaminoid with enough force to crack its hard shell as well as make it go flying off the city, taking two other larva's with it.

"Hak." Nina says shocked.

"Come on up." He tells her, helping her up by her good arm.

"Go, take Sharnid and retreat to a safe position, I got this." Hak tells her.

"Oh and, sorry about this, blood is like catnip to those things." Hak says, lying his hand on her shoulder, soaking it in blood and smearing it over his clothes.

"Now go and have Sharnid fix you up." He orders as he's unraveling his glaive and wraps the cloth around her wound.

After instructing his friend on what to do he takes out a couple of larva's which went past them, slitting them in half with his glaive as if it were going through butter and jumps into the middle of the rushing wave of larva's which turn around and head towards where they smell him with his blood covered clothing.

"HAK!" Nina shouts terrified but goes over to Sharnid to have him fix her up anyways.

"What is he doing?" Sharnid asks, as he gets out a first aid kit and treats her wound with a temporary fix.

"He said he can take care of them by himself and asked us to retreat to a safer position." Nina says breathlessly as the two look to where Hak disappeared and see green blood spraying through the air, looking almost like a continuous stream which wanders from one side to the other.

"How is he doing that?" Sharnid questions stupefied, since he can tell that Hak is not using any Kei.

"Rather than that, will he be OK?" Nina says worried.

"You like him huh?" Sharnid asks.

"What?" Nina shouts embarrassed.

"I said, you like him. Now tell me I'm wrong." Sharnid repeats.

"No, you're right. But with how things are looking all that won't matter. No matter how strong he is he can't possibly be a match for a whole fleet of larva when we could barely take out two with our numbers. The only thing we really accomplished was destroying their wings." Nina says.

"Good to see you're OK." Layfon tells them, landing next to them, which startles the two.

"Layfon! Hak is somewhere in that huge pile of larva." Nina shouts.

"I know, don't worry. This is barely a workout for him, and I won't tell him what I just overheard." Layfon tells her, making the girl blush deep red.

"Jo Hak, get your ass out of there!" Layfon shouts loud enough to be heard halfway across the city.

"You saying something about my ass? Good to see you got yours over here finally." Hak replies jokingly as he jumps out of the fray and lands near the group of three.

"I got them from here. You can sit down and watch." Layfon tells his second oldest friend.

"Hah, as if I'd let you have all the fun. How 'bout this? You take the small ones and I got dibs on the big mom." Hak offers.

"Alright, it's right down this leg, into a ravine and then you head a couple hundred meters in that direction. And here." Layfon explains, telling him the location of the mother before handing him his daite.

"You must be joking, there is no way you can survive out there more than 5 minutes at most." Nina shouts at Hak.

"You continue to underestimate me, you are as doubtful as you are beautiful. Which means I'll just have to prove you wrong." Hak tells her with a smirk before her runs towards the edge of the city, leaping over the contaminoids in his way and then jumps out of the city.

"Don't worry he'll be fine." Layfon tells her relaxed while he jumps onto a pillar next to them and activates his weapon, covering the entire battleground with strings made out of Kei and slices through the larvas, taking out all of them at once before repeating this for the mass the other two groups are facing, taking those larvas' out as well in a matter of seconds, leaving some of the combatants still remainaing stupefied at what just happened.

After jumping of the city Hak heads to the location Layfon pointed him to and takes out the mother with his new daite, opening it with a little difficulty and then concentrates on using his Kei before swinging at the unmoving mother, ripping it to shreds with a flash of thunder striking down from above, surprising the students who are still on the battlefield.

"Oh man, I already broke it." Hak says disappointed as he holds onto the stick remaining as his weapon with the blade of his weapon having basically evaporated.

"Better get back now. The city might start moving any time now and I don't want to be left out here alone, again. " Hak says, making his way out of the ravine by climbing up the wall. Once he's out of the ravine he runs over to a leg which is undamaged by the contaminoids and not covered in their blood and starts to climb that one.

* * *

Meanwhile back with Nina, Layfon and Sharnid the three are waiting for Hak to come back with the two boys being relaxed while Nina is on edge.

"Where is he? I can't believe my bad luck, I finally like a guy and first thing he does is kill himself by jumping out of Zuellni." Nina rambles on worried.

"You like me huh? Well that is music to my ears." Hak says amused, coming up behind them, having made his way over to them after climbing the other leg.

"Where… Where did you come from?" Nina stammers, blushing bright red.

"I had to climb up another leg since that one is slippery." Hak replies, pointing at where the contaminoids attacked from.

"Why did you do it like in the past?" Layfon questions.

"I used it to stop Nina's bleeding." Hak replies.

"Oh." Layfon says, seeing the cloth hanging from Nina's arm.

"What are you talking about?" Nina questions.

"That cloth has a strong wire inside it, allowing me to use it to I guess you could call it flying right?" Hak asks Layfon.

"Closest thing to it I've seen yet." Layfon agrees.

"I'll show it to you another time. Man, I'd really like to kiss you right now but I'll spare you the grime." Hak tells her, looking down himself as he's covered head to toe in contaminoid blood.

"Good idea." Sharnid says, looking at the teen with disgust.

"Who took out all these larva?" Vanze Haldey asks as the head of military asks, meeting up with the other squads at Nina's location.

"Layfon took out most of them after Hak held them off." Sharnid replies, pointing at the huge wall of contaminoids caused by Hak killing the contaminoids while running from side to side.

"Hak? Who is he?" Vanze asks, making Sharnid point at the tall teen covered head to toe in green blood.

"How would you like to join my platoon?" Vanze offers.

"Hmmm, I guess I could check it out." Hak agrees.

"Great!" Vanze says excited to have a powerhouse on his team as well.

"Hey, that's no fair." Nina complains.

"Why? Your platoon is already full, why keep Hak from proving himself in the arena and inspire our military artists?" Vanze questions.

"Well, He… I…, it's like this…" Nina says timidly.

"The thing is I like her, so you'll have to accept me fraternizing with their platoon." Hak tells Vanze.

"As long as your performance in the arena won't be affected, I have no reason to meddle in personal business." Vanze replies.

"Good. Now, I won't need that anymore. Also since you're my new captain I'd like to have a different kind of uniform but I'll explain it to you another time." Hak says and takes off his jacket, throwing it over the city's edge.

"Sure?" Vanze agrees, impressed by the teen demanding something from him barely a minute or so after agreeing to join.

"Great, now I'll take my leave and you're coming with me." Hak says lifting Nina into a bridal carry and going to the tents where they treat the injured, so someone can fix her shoulder professionally.

Not even 10 minutes later Nina is patched up and the two take their time strolling through the city.

"I still can't believe you were that strong and I didn't notice, well other than that time you had a boulder to your head while training Kei.

"Don't sweat it, no one knew it. Even though I didn't try to hide it like a certain someone." Hak tells her.

"So, uhm… About what you overheard…" Nina says.

"Hey, let's meet at your place in half an hour alright? This stuff is starting to stick and I'm sure you'd like to get cleaned up as well." Hak suggests.

"Sure." Nina agrees, worried that he might not like her and was only teasing her earlier, since he didn't talk about her accidentally confessing in front of him.

* * *

|half an hour later – Nina's room|

After getting cleaned up Hak makes his way to the girls' dorm and knocks on Nina's door.

Nina who was sitting on her bed for the last 5 minutes, worried about what will happen next shoots up at the sound of someone knocking and looks through her spy, seeing Hak stand in front of her door.

Nina opens the door and lets Hak in wordlessly. After he's in she closes the door behind him and sits down on her bed, facing the glaive wielding teen.

Hak closes the distance between the two of them and tilts Nina's head upwards as he is inching his mouth closer to hers until they meet with an uneasy kiss.

"Will you be my girlfriend?" Hak asks her, squatting down so they're on the same eye-level.

"Yes, you dummy, but why didn't you say anything half an hour ago? I was worrying that you don't like me, because I am not feminine enough or I am to strict for you…" Nina says.

"Sorry." Hak apologizes and stops her rambling with another kiss, cupping her face lovingly as their tongues dance around each other.

"How will this work? I mean you are part of the first platoon now and I'm the leader of the 17th. We are bound to face each other in battle.

"We'll figure it out then, but I don't think our relationship should have anything to do with our battle capabilities anyways." Hak says, caressing her hand as he sits down next to her.

"What now? I never went out with anyone, so I am completely clueless on how this usually goes." Nina asks him.

"Hey, this is new for me too. But I think we can figure it out together, right?" Hak says, looking into her eyes.

"Yes." Nina replies confidently.

"Good, now it's been a long day. I think I should let you get some rest. Especially with that injury." Hak tells her as he gets up, intending to leave.

"Hak, wait. Can you stay here tonight? I saw some horrible things on the battlefield, and I think having you nearby will help." Nina asks him.

"Of course." Hak replies with a smile and joins her on her bed, lying down next to her after taking off his shoes while Nina takes off her shirt embarrassedly, begin used to sleeping in her underwear though she keeps her small shorts on this time.

"Thank you." Nina says when she and Hak are lying down facing each other.

"Don't mention it." Hak says and pulls her close to himself until they are pressed against each other.

"Now get some rest." He tells her, brushing her hair calmingly.

"I'll try." Nina agrees with little tears of happiness coming out of the corner of her eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

|a few days later|

The seventeenth platoon lost against the fourteenth platoon the day before and Layfon, Hak and Harley are in the fourteenth's platoons training hall with Harley running tests on the daites he's creating for the two powerful fighters.

"Maybe the physical condition has impact on the Kei output? I mean I don't know but I think you should take it easy for a while, you seemed pretty beat in the competition yesterday." Harley tells Layfon while he's making him run Kei through his prototype weapon.

"Meh, if Layfon can't handle a couple larvas then he's gotten more rusty than I imagined." Hak snickers from a seat in the hall.

"By the way you two, I was wondering, doesn't it tick you off that you did all the work and got none of the credit." Harley asks them curiously.

"Nah, Layfon wants to get out of military arts anyways and I at least got a spot on a platoon." Hak replies.

"How'd that go anyways?" Layfon asks his oldest friend.

"So, so. We had a mock battle yesterday and the captain said he wanted to think of my position in the team before doing any further group training so everyone is training on their own for a while." Hak answers.

"Any idea when Nina will get here?" Hak asks the two.

"No sorry, I thought she'd be here by now…" Harley says.

"Yo dude, did you make them?" Sharnid asks entering the hall.

"Yeah, I made them based on your specs but the range isn't great." Harley informs him.

"That's OK, they're not meant for sniping." Sharnid replies, taking two handgun daites from the mechanic and goes through a few Kata's.

"Isn't that Juju-jutsu?" Layfon asks.

"Yeah so?" Sharnid replies.

"I was just surprised, did you use this on your previous team before?" Layfon questions.

"No man, I just thought a little diversity would be good for the team you know." Sharnid tells him.

"I'm sorry I'm late." Felli says entering the room and sitting down in the chair next to Hak quietly.

"It's fine Nina isn't here yet." Sharnid tells her relaxed.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Nina tells her platoon, entering the hall.

"Don't worry about todays training, it's cancelled. You can all train individually if you'd like to…" Nina tells them and leaves the building.

"I'm going to check on her. I think your loss yesterday got to her." Hak tells the group, throwing Harley a pad with information he wanted from the glendan warrior.

"Jo Nina, wait up. Is something wrong?" Hak asks, jogging after the blonde captain.

"No. It's all fine. I just think everyone needs a break after the invasion." Nina lies, something Hak catches on to.

"Come on Nina, you know that's not the complete truth. Tell me what's going on, maybe I can help…" Hak offers.

"Shouldn't you be training on your Kei?" Nina asks.

"That can wait. I know something is bothering you, why won't you tell me?" Hak replies.

"It's got nothing to do with you, I need to go now. See you later." She says obviously troubled and hurries away. Hak lets her go for now since he sees that he's only making things harder for her.

"Well, what to do now?" Hak asks himself and Layfon answers his question by running up behind him saying "Hak, we're invited to dinner with the headmaster and Felli. He wants to discuss something."

"Alright, I'll meet you there. I'm going to work on my Kei in the meantime." Hak tells him, going back to the beach where he is about to start his training again until he sees Nina training by herself, shooting out external Kei left and right with a determined look on her face.

* * *

Hak walks over to her in a slow pace, not wanting to disturb his girlfriend, who shoots a Kei blast at him when he's only a few feet away, not having noticed someone approaching in her state of focus.

"Oww?" Hak says, rubbing his forearm he used to block the attack with.

"Hak? Did you follow me?!" Nina shouts outraged after a quick moment of guilt for hitting him accidentally.

"No. I came to train here myself, I promise." Hak says, staring into her blue eyes.

"Alright, can you do it somewhere else though? I want to be alone right now." Nina asks.

"I can, but are you sure you wouldn't rather have a trainings partner?" Hak asks.

"Fine." Nina sighs, giving in after 3 seconds of the two staring at each other.

"So, why are you making a big secret out of training yourself?" Hak asks, dodging her first attack, having stabbed his glaive into the sand.

"Because it's no one else's business." Nina grunts, getting frustrated with Hak dodging her attacks with ease.

"You remind me of me back in Glendan. Always trying to force my way through on my own." Hak chuckles.

"Are you making fun of me?" Nina shouts pissed, tears filling her eyes and swings at him hard with her Kei empowered baton.

Hak freezes up when he sees her cry and gets knocked down by the hit.

"No Nina. I'm just trying to tell you that doing things on your own isn't always going to work. I mean without your guidance I still wouldn't be able to use the little bit of Kei I can use right now." Hak tells her, getting back up.

"But how…" Nina cries, falling to her knees.

"How what?" Hak questions, going over to her and sitting down in front of her.

"How am I supposed to train with you or Layfon when both of you just go easy on me and my hits don't even matter. I'm just far too weak and I don't know what to do anymore." Nina sobs, holding her eyes with her hands.

"Nina… It's not about being weak or strong. It's all about doing your best. No one in your platoon or this city expects you to suddenly be as strong as Layfon or me. We've been trained in the military arts by probably the strongest people on the planet for 10 years to get to where we are now. You've been in the military arts for what? Five years? And without teacher." Hak says gently, reaching for her hands and pulling them away from her eyes and caresses them.

"It's just … there is such a huge gap between our capabilities, how am I supposed to be platoon leader when Layfon can beat me with one finger?" Nina asks.

"Hah,I think you don't realize how much your team needs you. Listen, Layfon couldn't lead anyone if he tried and Felli and Sharnid are both too lazy. You're the only thing making your platoon work from what I've seen."

"So? That doesn't help me if Layfon is still stronger on his own than under my lead." Nina says, pulling up her knees to her chest sullenly.

"Nina. Layfon has been with your platoon for a few weeks. You will learn how to use him over time. And as for your own strength, stand up and face me. I'll help you catch up if you're prepared to put in the time but be aware that it will take years until you're at our level." Hak offers, getting up and holding out his hand to her.

Nina looks up at him thoughtfully for a minute before accepting the hand with a small smile and gets up herself.

"You better not go easy on me." Nina says, looking at him challengingly.

"I may love you, but if someone is willing to train I'm going to do my best to help them even if it means pushing you past your limits over and over." Hak tells her.

"Where do we start?" Nina asks confidently.

"At the beginning. Strengthening the body." Hak says, taking her hand and bringing her over to an enormous tree at the edge of the beach.

"Jump." Hak tells her, looking at her expectantly.

"What?" She asks surprised.

"Jump as high as you can!" Hak orders sternly.

Nina looks at him confused but does as he says, jumping up.

"Now hit the tree when you get as high as you can." Hak tells her and Nina follows the instruction, leaving a mark on the tree around 3 meters up from the ground.

"Good. Now hit the tree as hard as you can. But be prepared that your hand will break." Hak tells her, looking at her sternly.

Nina gulps and stares at the tree insecurely, punching it but not fully committing.

"Nina, do you want my help or not?" Hak asks her darkly.

"What does it help me if I break my hand?" Nina asks him not knowing what he's trying to get her to do.

"In order to get stronger you need to be able to see your progress. If you really are serious about getting stronger and want my help, then do as I say and punch the tree." Hak tells her, punching a tree next to the one they are standing in front of, sending it over the beach and into the water.

Nina gulps once and closes her eyes, concentrating before rearing her fist back and punching her tree as hard as she can, leaving a small, barely noticeable dent in the wood and falls to her knees in pain, holding her hand which as Hak predicted now has broken bones in a few places.

"What now?" Nina grunts, tears flowing out of her eyes while she looks up at Hak, who smiles at her proudly.

"Now we need to see how tough you are." Hak says, making her stand in a defensive position with her back to the beach right on the edge of the forest floor.

"Get ready, I'm going to send you flying." Hak tells her, slowly walking over to her and puts his hand on her stomach, pushing her away hard and sending her flying into the water with her loosing consciousness from the combined pain of her hand and now her stomach.

Hak quickly jumps after her, lifting her out of the water before she even fully goes under and puts the tree he previous threw In the water at the spot she landed.

* * *

Hak then brings Nina over to the hospital, where she gets healed up and the doctors tell him that she'll be fine after a day of rest, having fixed her broken hand already and given her meds to enhance her healing.

"Hak, where am I?" Nina asks, waking up half an hour after the doctors finished treating her.

"In the hospital. You did well. I'm proud of you babe." Hak tells her, giving her a gentle kiss.

"You call that well? I passed out from pain, broke my hand and got flung into the sea by you." Nina asks him angrily, a vein popping up on her temple.

"Yes. You did everything I asked of you without holding back. That's the first step, something many other failed to do." Hak tells her.

"You've taught others?" Nina asks surprised, getting out of the bed with a groan.

"One or two people. But they both died in a fight against the contaminoids." Hak replies.

"Sorry." Nina says.

"That's fine. I barely knew them." Hak tells her, lifting her off her feet and carrying her bridal style through the hospital with her blushing and looking away embarrassedly.

"Why are you carrying me?" Nina asks him mildly annoyed, enjoying it but not wanting to show weakness to everyone.

"I feel like I need to make up for treating you so harshly … and I like holding you close to me." Hak says.

"So what are we training next?" Nina asks, her cheeks reddening.

"For now you're going to rest. You can work tomorrow evening but tonight I'm doing your chores." Hak tells her with finality in his voice.

"And what are we doing now?" Nina asks, looking up at him.

"I'm bringing you home." Hak says.

* * *

|10 minutes later|

"Here we are." Hak says, opening the door while still carrying Nina.

"Hak. I saw Nina fall into the water, what happened?" Naruki asks, stepping into the hallway with Mayshen and Mifi behind her.

"I am starting to train her." Hak replies.

"Well as long as you are OK Nina." Naruki says, looking at the girl.

"I'm fine, thank you for your concern but my boyfriend has everything under control, right?" Nina replies, looking at Hak.

"Yeah, it's all fine. And thanks for looking out for her." Hak replies.

"Hey Hak, can we talk? I need to ask you something." Naruki asks him.

"Sure." Hak replies with Nina getting out of his arms.

"He'll be out in a minute." Nina says, pulling him inside and closing her door, looking at him expectantly.

"What?" He asks confused what's going on.

"What is your deal with that girl? Because she likes you I can tell." Nina asks him suspiciously.

"She's a friend. I helped her at the entrance ceremony." Hak replies.

"You better not go behind my back, if you two have feelings for each other you better fess up." Nina tells him.

"Hold your horses there. Sure I like her, she's a nice girl. But that doesn't mean I'm going to make a move on her, do you really trust me so little?" Hak tells Nina.

"No… I just usually have bad luck with guys and I don't want our relationship to crash and burn." Nina tells him quietly.

"Neither do I, trust me Nina. I love you and will never do anything to hurt you." Hak tells her, caressing the side of her face, giving her a passionate kiss.

"Alright, go on she's waiting on you." Nina tells Hak with a smile, leading him back over to the door.

When Hak steps out of the room Naruki goes outside with him and asks him for help with a case the police captain wants him or Layfon to lend a hand with, which would secure her position as police officer. Hak agrees to help her out and she gives him a letter for Layfon which Mayshen was holding on to the whole day, not having the nerve to deliver it to him.

* * *

When Naruki enters the girls dorms and is about to go to her room Nina calls her out from her room near the three girl's room.

"You're Naruki right?" Nina asks, opening the door for Naruki to enter.

"Yeah. What's wrong?" Naruki asks stepping inside with Nina closing the door behind her.

"I wanted to talk about Hak." Nina says, offering her a seat on her bed.

"What about him?" Naruki asks.

"Do you like him?" Nina questions, looking in the girls eyes.

"Yes. But don't worry I'm not someone who'll interfere with someone's relationship." Naruki replies honestly.

"Listen, I have been here before. Liking the same guy as another girl and it didn't end pretty. So I'm thinking we could try coming to an agreement…" Nina tells her thoughtfully.

"Agreement?" Naruki asks confused.

"Well we could all try dating each other, like a three-way couple, because Hak likes you to, whether he admits it or not." Nina tells her.

"How would that work? It's not like the both of us know each other that well." Naruki asks.

"I'm not saying it'll work. I'm just giving you the chance to try it. Because I may not know Hak for very long but he's someone who puts honor and honesty over all else so when he realizes that he does have feelings for you as well it's possible he won't want to go out with either of us." Nina tells her.

"I see what you mean. But are you sure you really want this?" Naruki questions the girl.

"Yes. I love Hak and I'd rather share him with you than for both of us to lose him because he doesn't want to hurt either of us." Nina tells her decisively.

"Does he know about your decision?" Naruki asks.

"No, I wasn't sure how you felt towards him until I've seen your reaction when I said he's my boyfriend…" Nina replies.

"Well what now?" Naruki asks fiddling with her fingers.

"I think we should get to know each other better." Nina tells her.

"That's a great idea, come on I'll introduce you to my friends as well." Naruki says, going to her own room with Nina in tow and the four girls get to know each other better, with Nina sharing her intention to share Hak with Naruki, getting Mifi's full attention but makes her promise that she won't write about it.


End file.
